Wishing You The Best!

Guilt from the realization that I haven't blogged since November and not wanting to let a New Year role in without one last post prompted me to pry myself from the comfort of my recliner to come upstairs and post.

2014 has been an eventful year, as are they all of late, and I continue to feel extraordinarily lucky for all that I have and all I have been able to experience.

This year brought us to the conclusion of our three years in our beloved Estonia, And after finally getting to move into the house we bought more than a year ago and a wonderful home leave that took us as far north as Maine and as far south as Atlanta, it took us right back to Estonia to help with President Obama's visit to Tallinn. I got to thank him, personally, for supporting Marriage Equality.

Courtesy of Freedom to Marry

And this is a year that will go in the record books for Marriage Equality, The Supreme Court's refusal to hear cases where a number of Appellate Courts had ruled in favor of marriage equality meant that the number of states where you can marry the person you love blossomed to 35. Including South Carolina. SOUTH CAROLINA, y'all!

We can retire someplace warm!

I don't know what 2015 will bring. We all know I am famously bad at keeping New Year's Resolutions regardless of what I call them, so I just hope that life continues on the way it has. I hope all goes according to plan, and that we will finish Albanian language training and head off to Kosovo in July. I hope that my wife, our pets and our families continue to be healthy. I hope our work continues to be meaningful and that we get to continue to serve the country.

I also hope for continued improvement in our country. I hope 2015 brings marriage equality to the remaining 15 states. I hope our economy continues to improve and that the improvement lifts those who are suffering. I hope that lift helps heal some of the divides in our country so that people can once again remember that there are smart, dedicated, patriotic people on both sides of the political divide in this country. We all want what is best for the country. We just don't agree on how to get there. If we can remember that, it would be a huge start.

And for you, I hope that your 2015 is better than your 2014 regardless of how 2014 was for you. If you were loved, I wish you more love, and if you weren't, then I wish you love. If you were happy, I wish you more happiness, and if you were sad, I hope your sadness if finally abated.

I hope you and yours are happy, healthy, and secure in 2015.

Happy New Year! Head Uut Aastat! Gëzuar Vitin e Ri!

A Whole New World

SC Statehouse
Photo by
SC Equality

My wife and I were driving down the GW Parkway to FSI last Monday when we first heard the news: the Supreme Court had declined to hear the cases on marriage equality.

My initial response was confusion and disappointment. We had really hoped the court would finally weigh in and give some clarity to the issue. How could they not weigh in when five separate appellate courts had ruled that the ban on marriage equality was unconstitutional? And what would this mean in those cases? More lives on hold?

But clarity was soon in coming and change swept through like wildfire.

Their non-decision, while not deciding on the issue for the whole country, is having close to the same effect and was apparently the right one: there was no need to weigh in on an issue upon which all of the lower courts had agreed. So in Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin, the lower court ruling would stand and marriage equality would be the law of the land.

The non-decision would likely expand marriage equality to the other states covered by those federal appeals courts: meaning marriage equality was also coming to Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

South Carolina, y'all!

Virginia immediately accepted the ruling, and as of 1 p.m. on the 6th, couples began to get married and suddenly we were married both at home and at work!).

A few other states fought and then surrendered, including North Carolina, where GOP leaders went back to the court with the argument that the federal court didn't have jurisdiction (really guys? 'cause I think we fought a war over that one...).

Others are still fighting it, including South Carolina (of course), although the probate judges in Richland, Charleston, and Colleton counties have begun accepting applications. The SC Supreme Court ordered them to stop, but the judge in Richland County refused. She is the same probate judge who handled my grandmother's estate...I thought she and her staff were awesome then. Now she is my hero.

In the week since SCOTUS' non-decision, even more states have joined the right side of history, including Alaska (one Facebook meme noted that a certain politician from that state could now see marriage equality from her back yard!).

In fact, on Wednesday, Estonia passed a gender-neutral civil partnership law that will grants LGBT people there many of the rights and responsibilities of marriage. They are the first country formerly occupied by the Soviet Union to do so! Told you I loved that place!

I don't even know for sure what the count of states is now with marriage equality because so many places are in flux. It is somewhere between 30-35, up from 19 before the non-decision. More than half of the country lives in a marriage equality state. Here is the latest map from wikipedia (it is edited by Joe Jervis of the LGBT blog Joe.My.God., and he noted that he had to change it some eight times in a week, including twice in one day).

Here is the current map (as of this morning):

Here is what that means:

Dark blue: Same-sex marriage legal
Dark silver: Same-sex marriage performed elsewhere recognized
Light blue: Same-sex marriage legalization pending, but not yet in effect
Light Silver: No prohibition or recognition of same-sex marriage in territory law
Gold: Judicial ruling(s) overturning the same-sex marriage ban stayed indefinitely pending appeal
Yellow: Judicial ruling(s) overturning the ban on recognizing same-sex marriage performed elsewhere stayed indefinitely pending appeal
Red: Same-sex marriage ban runs contrary to federal appellate court precedent (includes SC, of course)
Garnet: Same-sex marriage banned

This is a historic moment. Love is winning.

And our potential retirement locations are increasing! Thanks to Asheville for being so welcoming...you are currently that the top of the list!

Asheville, NC City Hall.
Photo courtesy of WLOS ABC 13

The Travel Day Was Worth It

I could also title this post "the day I met the President...again."

I met President Obama once before, when I was in Jerusalem. Of course, at that time, he wasn't President Obama, he was Senator Obama. But I knew he was going to be president one day, so I got my picture taken with him.

On September 3rd, I got my picture taken with him again, this time when he was actually president. If you are my Facebook friend, you have seen it. If not, you'll have to take my word for it, since this blog is "anonymous."

I knew that we wouldn't get more than a split second with him, and I wanted to make it count.

So we got there early so we'd get a good place to stand. Turns out we got one of the best places...the embassy photographer was right near us and not allowed to move, so we got one of the only good pictures that day. And when he was talking, before he came around to shake everyone's hands, I was about 10 feet from him.

When he shook my hand, I looked at him and said, "Thank you for supporting marriage equality." He touched my shoulder and said "of course."

The rest of the visit was...a visit. I handled his speech at Nordea Concert Hall. I was maybe 20 feet from the stage, my reward for having worked all week through constant headaches and changes and headaches that came from the changes. Let's just say when you are trying to invite people to a limited seating event that everyone wants their favorites to attend, it gets a little nuts. But it was worth it...the speech was great and ended up being important from a foreign policy perspective.

You can read the speech here or watch it below:

Wanna See Where I Live?

Yep, I get paid to live here. :)

Visiting the Witches Well

Spring is coming. It is warming up, and today was sunny, so that meant it was time to get out of the house.

Estonia has five seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Flooding. We are in the latter, the 5th season, where all the snow is melting and all the rivers and streams are flooded.

When that happens, a well known as the "Witches’ Well", located about 30 minutes outside of Tallinn on the way to Tartu, occasionally begins to "boil" over (the last time was spring of 2008). Local legend holds that the well boils over when the witches of Tuhala make a sauna below the ground and beat each other with birch branches, causing a commotion on the surface.

The real reason is that well is near the Tuhala River, a 26 km long branch of the Pirita River. Some 6 km of its length runs underground. Water starts to spout up from the well and flood the area when excess water from the Mahtra swamp fills up the underground river and the overflowing river water seeks an escape through the well. The quantity of water flowing through the Tuhala River must be at least 5000 liters per second in order for the river to overflow, which only happens during the early part of the thaw.

Of course, it is possible that the thaw that causes the boiling is the result of the heat from the underground witches' sauna...

Head Vabariigi aastapäeva, Eesti!

Head Vabariigi aastapäeva, Eesti!

Today, the 24th of February, is the the 95th Independence Day of the Republic of Estonia.

We celebrated along with about half of the country by heading over to Freedom Square to watch the parade.

Happy Independence Day Estonia!

Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
February 21, 2013

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to congratulate the people of Estonia as you celebrate the 95th anniversary of your independence February 24.

The United States celebrates your independence and all that Estonians have contributed to the region and world. The United States is proud to have you as a committed NATO Ally and a close friend. The Estonian people, through innovative thinking and hard work, continue to demonstrate new approaches to technology that help you develop and sustain a vibrant, free-market democracy. Your leadership in cyber-security, e-governance, and technological innovation sets a global example, and has already benefited global citizens from Tunisia to Mongolia, Moldova to Libya, serving as a model for others to follow.

As you celebrate this special day, know that the United States stands with you as we work together toward a bright and prosperous future for all our citizens.

Finally Happy To Be Home

When I left for R&R, I was tired. I needed a break. I needed to recharge my filter, the one that keeps the thoughts in my head from escaping via my mouth. But I still loved living in Estonia.

When I came back, I....didn't.

I landed in Tallinn with a sense of utter dread. It was so cold and so dark and I felt the most profound feeling of not being at home and of wanting to go home, meaning back to the states.

And frankly, that terrified me. Because we have another year and a half here. And I couldn't bear the thought of being that unhappy for a year and a half.

I was happy to see our pets. I went to work and was happy to see our friends and co-workers (even though I found out that two were having to leave us and I was REALLY unhappy about that!). But I really didn't want to be at work and really didn't want to be in Estonia.

And the idea terrified me if the place that I had been so happy, the place that felt like home, and the place that had been my very favorite tour so far could suddenly not be any of those things, what hope was there for my staying in the foreign service. And being happy about it.

And then Friday, my wife and I went to dinner together. We had survived our first week back and went to one of our favorite places in Tallinn, which luckily for us, is also across the street. And one of our regular waitresses was there. And she spoke to us in Estonian because she knows we like that even though her English is far better than our Estonian.

And suddenly, as I was watching the people walking around and eating the familiar food of the place, and chatting with my wife, the feeling lifted.

And I was happy to be home.

And a sense of true relief washed over me as I realized I really liked Estonia again. That I will not be miserable for a year and a half because I really do like it here.

And like a tiny extra reward for not yielding to my panic, today, the sun visited. And I went outside in 23 degree weather thinking was a beautiful, sunny, WARM day it was.

But that week was really terrifying.

Of course, tonight, after all of those revelations, as I sat in my office about to write this, I noticed the room was getting chilly. I went and checked all our radiators and found they were not really working...not icy, but not warm by any stretch. And since they are heated with warm water, I checked our hot water. Also not icy, but not warm by any stretch.

So hopefully I will get the heat back soon so I can still love it here.

Sigh.

You know you've been in Estonia too long when:

An Estonian friend posted this on Facebook...a lot of them are really true for me. Especially the ones I highlighted:

You know you've been in Estonia too long when:

1. You rummage through your plastic bag collection (Prisma and Rimi mostly) to see which ones you should keep to take to the store and which can be sacrificed to garbage.

2. When a stranger on the street smiles at you:
a. you assume he's drunk
b. he is insane
c. he's an American
d. he's a British sex tourist.

3. You think paying with cash only is quite primitive; in fact your ability to calculate the change back has slowed down dramatically. Getting change in coins or 2 kroon bills is just unacceptable.

4. Your coffee consumption exceeds 6 cups a day and coffee is too weak if there is less than 5 scoops per pot. You drink less water than before.

5. You've replaced some English expressions with "ei ole", "ei taha" and "ma ei tea". The "noh" or "nii" come already spontaneously. Your native language has seriously deteriorated.

6. Around 6:30pm you check mentally which shops are close to you to buy alcohol before 8:00pm.

7. Your notion of streetlife is reduced to the few teenagers hanging out in Viru Keskus.

8. Silence… is fun.

9. Watching TV is no longer interesting. Everything can be found online.

10. When you go to a restaurant you don't expect the waitress to come with the menus and ask what you would like. Customer service is no longer linked with courtesy.

11. You don't think twice about wearing sandals indoors.

12. You know that "I got a new boyfriend." means "I got laid last night."

13. The next day when they say "We broke up." you know it means "He didn't call."

14. You agree that no WIFI at home is equivalent to no electricity or no heating.

15. You are immediately suspicious when somebody starts talking to you in the street.

16. Your bad mood becomes your good mood.

17. Things are not "great" or "amazing" anymore; they're just "normal".

18. You've come to expect Sunday morning sidewalk vomit dodging.

19. You think something's wrong if you see more children than old ladies or drunkards in a bus.

20. If the sun comes out you stare from the window for a couple of minutes.

21. Your front door step is beginning to resemble a shoe shop.

22. When you need a taxi you pick the phone and ask for one.

23. The only couple talking in a tram or a bus always seems to annoy you.

24. You seriously consider visiting the sauna at least once a week.

25. You get annoyed when the bus is two minutes late.

26. Your definition of party has reduced to a nice conversation, quiet music, some snacks and of course drinking.

27. You know how to fix potatoes in 105 different ways.

28. You eat potatoes in 105 ways.

29. You hear loud-talking passengers on the bus. You immediately assume:
a. they are drunk
b. they are Russian-speaking
c. all of the above

30. You chat with people by MSN or Skype even if they're 2 meters away from you.

31. You have undergone a transformation:
a. You accept hapukoor in any food
b. You accept chocolate as food
c. You accept

32. You understand why the Estonian language has neither future tense nor sex.

33. You know that "religious holiday" means, "let's get pissed."

34. You stop asking "how are you" when you meet people. Communicating becomes less and less important...

35. You greet people with "tere" or "hei" or "chau" and keep your distance. You lengthen the last vowels to be very effusive.

36. If someone hugs you for more than 2 seconds you already suspect he/she's hitting on you.

37. Your definition of spicy food has seriously deteriorated.

38. You accept that 80'C in a sauna is chilly, but 20'C outside is freaking hot. Also, you accept -10'C outside as a reasonable temperature, but anything under 22'C indoors is unreasonable...

39. You don't seem anymore surprised, frustrated or disappointed when a girl tells you she's with her boyfriend after dancing and rubbing herself nastily with you.

40. "No comment" becomes a conversation strategy.

41. You know that "work from home" is another phrase for "I'll sleep longer and work half day".

42. Your old habit of being "Fashionably late" is no longer acceptable. You feel ashamed if you're 5mins late.

43. You think SMS is a great way of interacting with people and even flirting.

44. The only place where you're sit without having a computer in front of you is more likely to be the bathroom.

45. You enjoy potatoes.

Ten Things

So it is bidding season, and I am thankfully not a participant. Even so, people are already inquiring about my job (stop it! I have TWO YEARS left and you are going to have to pry me out of my office when the time comes). And since Sunny over at Fabling has created, maybe without trying, an FS blogger meme, I figured I would play along and come up with ten things I love and ten things I don’t love about Estonia.

Ten Things I Love:

My Job: This section is the perfect size. I am supervising an American and six local staff. We are a busy section, with an Ambassador who really gets Public Diplomacy. Were the section much larger, I would either not be running it (at least not yet) or I would not get to do any of the cool stuff. PAOs in really large section often have to do all the paperwork/budget stuff with no time for the engagement stuff. I get to do both.

The City: Tallinn is beautiful. The Old City is charming and the newer areas nicely developed. You can walk most anywhere in the city, especially if you live downtown. And there are tons of things to see and do and yummy restaurants to eat in.

My apartment: Which is downtown…see above. I love to walk my dog around the Old City (added bonus, the vendors leave you alone when you have a dog because they don’t assume you are tourist). Plus, I have beautiful views.

The Summer: The weather is gorgeous! The temps are a little cooler than I prefer…I find myself in a light jacket most days, especially in the shade. But compared with the 115 degree heat index I hear the East Coast is dealing with, I will add this under things I love.

The Light: The days will only start getting shorter from here but boy do we have a ways to go! I woke up this morning at about 1 am and it was still light outside. And the sun comes up at 4 am. You wouldn’t believe how much energy you have!

The Language: Estonian is easily one of the hardest languages on the planet. It is also one of the most beautiful. It sounds like it was designed for singing and it might have been. I am glad I learned it.

The People: I heard a lot of nonsense before I got here about how Estonians are “cold.” They can be reserved when you first meet them, but I have found that they warm up quickly, especially if you have attempted their language. And I like too, that despite what I was told, people WILL speak to you in Estonian. They don’t “ALL speak English” (a lot do, but a fair number don’t). But even those who do will speak to you in Estonian if you speak Estonian to them. And another cool thing about Estonians...they have maintained their identity and language despite spending most of the last 800 YEARS being occupied. Pretty damned impressive.

The Countryside: Estonia is amazingly beautiful. Particularly in the summer, it is green and sparsely populated. And the air here is ranked as the world’s cleanest. So getting out into nature won’t leave you with an asthma attack!

The Culture: Many people have the profoundly mistaken notion that Estonian culture is a remnant of Soviet culture. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Estonians are far more Nordic and European than they are Eastern and “former Soviet.” This is a fully developed democracy among a people who respect the rule of law. I love that they are orderly and punctual while still being incredibly smart and innovative.

The Interwebs: And speaking of smart and innovative, you know they call it E-stonia, right? That they invented Skype? That by 2015 they are slated to have broadband access to EVERY building and home IN THE COUNTRY, at speeds faster than we have in the U.S.? That they can vote, pay taxes (in five minutes…seriously), register their child’s name and a variety of other government services, all online? Yeah, they are way ahead of us on this whole internet thing…and I LOVE it!

Ten Things I Don’t Love (Because Hate is too strong a word)

The Winter: It is really frickin’ cold. Like take the coldest you have been and multiply it kind of cold. Like I now know where Celsius and Fahrenheit converge kind of cold (-40 if you are curious…we hit -25F this year).

The Dark: And when it is cold, it is also dark. The days get super short in the winter, and the daily change is noticeable. In winter, you lose about 6 minutes of light per day. The sun doesn’t rise before about 10 and sets by about 3. It is really dark. I never thought I would have said this, but the snow actually makes it better…at least it is a little lighter then.

The Ice: There is just nothing to like about ice unless it is in a glass chilling a tasty beverage in the heat of an east coast summer. I took a nice fall on cobblestones during my language immersion, and this past winter, while getting out of the embassy’s Tahoe, I hit a patch of ice and fell backwards, cracking my head against the vehicles step. It hurt…a lot. And I was one of the lucky ones. One person at the embassy broke his ankle.

The Way They Shovel the Sidewalks: Basically they remove the top coat of snow, otherwise known as the only thing that gives you any traction, from the layer of ice below. And see above for what I think of ice.

The Mosquitoes : Holy crap, they are like small birds! Swarms of small birds! I have spend a fair amount of time in the swamps of SC, where I ran across what I *thought* were big mosquitoes. But no, they were tiny by comparison. These are the biggest I have ever seen, and when they bite, they really HURT!

Drunk Tourists: Particularly in summer, there are lots of tourists in the Old City, and lot of them are drunk because alcohol is cheaper here than in some nearby places. I am only thankful that the most obnoxious drunk tourists tend not to be English speakers. And even the most obnoxious English speakers tend not to be Americans. I like it when we are not the most obnoxious tourists around!

The Sushi: Or lack thereof. There is sushi here, but not like at home. And really, sushi doesn’t need mayo. At all. Ever. The same goes for Mexican food (not the mayo part, the lack part).

Hmmm…out out of things I don’t like…and I could have kept going on the things I liked….I guess that is a pretty telling sign.

But don’t bid on my job…because if there are no bidders, they have to let me stay, right?

It Takes A Visitor

...to make you go out and do what you have been meaning to do.

We had company this weekend, our third visitor in the seven months I have been here (making it three times as many visitors as we had during our whole tour in Jerusalem...people seem more interested in coming here!) This time is was a friend from area studies (and before that, the A-100 yahoo group) who is currently serving in the Balts. She was here for consular leadership day and stayed an extra night to check out the sights (I originally typed sites, but considering where we went, that would have been okay too).

So Kiek in Der Kok (or peak in the kitchen) is one of the more famous of Tallinn's Old City towers. I have meant to go in there since I did my language immersion a year ago and had my picture taken by it. Actually before that, back when I drew a picture of it from a photo I had seen. And since it is right by Vabaduse Valjak (Freedom Square), I see it regularly and never manage to go in. My wife took her dad when he visited, but I was working and didn't get to join. I even took Noostie for a walk by it once, but never went in.


Well the trip was worth the wait. Tallinn knows how to do museums (lots of fun, creepy stuff in this one, like a torture rack, an executioners sword...and a nerf pig on a spit), and if you walk all the way up the windy original steps (or you can take the new, safe ones, but where is the challenge in that?) you can see why it was such a good defensive tower. You can see everything from there...we got some great views of the Old City...I could even see my apartment from there.



I hope you are planning to visit...there are some other places I need to visit, but clearly I need a push!

They Pay Me To Do This

One of the things we do as representatives of the United States overseas is to support American businesses and ways in which they can cooperate with the host government.

Yesterday, this meant helping organize an event where General Dynamics could show off its Piranha III, an armored personnel carrier it thinks could be of use to the Estonian military.

The idea behind the event, which was attended by high level Estonians as well as interested defense folks from other countries, as to let them get really hands on with the vehicle, including getting to take rides in it.

Which of course, also meant the rest of us got rides in it. In the snow.

It was very cool.

I was the one yelling, "Run over the snow bank! Run over the trees! Run over those people!"**


**No people, trees, nor snow banks were harmed during the making of this event nor the writing of this blog post.

Dealing With The Blogroll

I see my blog as doing three primary things: telling my dad what I am up to, covering LGBT issues in the Foreign Service, and helping recruit good people to join the Foreign Service.

A big part of that last one is my blogroll.

Which blogger has now decided to screw around with.

Sometime a few weeks back, they decided to have an arbitrary limit on their links gadget. I think that limit is 166. Who came up with THAT number?? Anyway, what that means is that while my blogroll of well over 300 blogs still works, I can't edit it. At all. Which means I can't remove double listings. Can't delete some blogs that have been completely deleted. And most importantly, I can't add new blogs.

So I made a new one, just below the old one, with the oh so creative title of "More FS Blogs." New FS blogs (or old ones that I suddenly find) will go there. As will the "graduates" from the Future FS Roll.

In other news, the weather here has warmed up a bit. Never in my life did I think 18F would seem warm, but after -25F, it seems positively balmly.

M and I took advantage of the "warm" weather to head out to the Tallinn suburb of Viimsi to take some pictures. I'm glad we did...the frost of the trees was magical and had melted by later in the day. Also cool are the ice and snow covered rocks in the frozen waters of the Baltic. And at the Viimsi Open Air Market, we got to see sled dogs...because it is that cold here!

Why Does Water Hate Me?

Yesterday, right as I was about to go into press brief, my phone rang.

It was my wife. I knew this because I set Foreigner's "Urgent" as her ringtone. :D

And it was. Urgent that is.

Our bedroom ceiling was leaking.

Those of you who have been reading a while know we had a ceiling "issue" back in our home in Virginia in July of 2010. And by issue, I mean it collapsed. On us. In bed at 3 am. Because of a leak.

And it took about 3 months before the condo association's insurance refused to cover it, and another 3 months or so before the work was finally done. And during that six months, we had a 10 ft by 6ft hole in our bedroom ceiling, plus another in the office, and the hall, and the downstairs living room.

So the sound of dripping, or a report of a leaky ceiling, now instantly spikes my blood pressure.

So I hung up and called GSO. He wasn't at his desk (he's a busy guy, and not only because of me!) so I told my APAO to handle press brief (because I am fortunate to have a really reliable APAO!) and ran upstairs.

We got folks to the apartment quickly. Turns out, the neighbor upstairs had a flood in her kitchen. Which is apparently above our bedroom.

The damage appears minimal. They will have to replace part of the ceiling, but luckily M was home and was able to clean up before it damaged her clothes (part of the leak was over the closet) or the floor. So at least there is that. Now it is a matter of the neighbor's insurance and the landlord and her insurance and the embassy all sorting it out. Thankfully, I can stay out of all that, but I will have to endure repairs.

This latest water incident comes on the heels of the boiler for our building, which is apparently not even in our building, dying, leaving us with NO hot water for a few days. And let me tell you, with the temps these days, you need a hot shower to thaw out!

You've seen those stories of eastern and central Europe being in a hard freeze? That's us. Today, the high is supposed to be -6. The HIGH. The low is supposed to be -24. Fahrenheit, not celsius.


And let me tell you, that is really frickin' cold.

Fire and Ice

It is well known that the Estonians are not terribly religious people, unless you count maausk, or earth beliefs. They were among the last in Europe to adopt Christianity, and the presence of paganism after a fashion is still very real here.

This was pretty obvious at the Fire and Ice Festival tonight.

After Christmas, Estonians gather all the dead Christmas trees, and artists use them to construct huge sculptures. Then, they set the sculptures on fire in Toompea park against the backdrop of the frozen pond and snow covered park and the beating of drums.

The scuplture above is a dragon. Others were small buildings with rotating interiors or abstract pieces. You can see from the people near by that these were huge sculptures...they lit up the night sky.

Pretty awesome.

What Was That Sound??

I was having a meeting in my office this week, when I heard this weird sound outside.

It sort of sounded like someone trying to start a motorcycle or leaf blower.

Both would be pointless this time of year. The leafblower, obviously, because there are no leaves. And the motorcycle...well, unless you like sliding to the ground.

The ice here is just treacherous.

Folks make a good faith effort to clean the sidewalks. The trouble is, we are having a mild winter. Okay, not mild by my winter standards, but really mild by Estonian ones.

What this means is that there has not been enough snow. It keeps getting warm and melting the snow, making icky slush (I have learned two new words - lörts (sleet or slush) and libe (slippery) - of neccessity), and then getting cold and refreezing said slush into a solid sheet of ice.

You can't walk on ice. And I suspect you can't really drive a motorcycle on it either (as a side note, I really like the metal-studded snow tires they require here. Every bit of extra traction you can get is a good thing!).

Which brings me back to the sound.

Every March or April, as spring arrives, people get injured, sometimes critically, by falling icicles and mounds of snow coming off the roofs as the weather warms and the snow melts. Usually, at least one person gets killed per year.

And that sound? That is this phenomenon happening NOW. Because of this weird weather, the snow accumulates on the roofs, melts, and slides off. So instead of having this danger IN THE spring, we could have it ALL WINTER and THROUGH the spring.

So okay, the Estonians are right. It probably needs to be colder and snowier.

White Christmas

We are finally getting some snow in Tallinn, just in time for Orthodox Christmas today. So at least someone got a white Christmas!

Actually, I kind of like the snow so far. Not too much of it (maybe 3-5 inches) plus I don't have to drive anywhere at the moment. Of course, if it keeps snowing between now and say, April, like it did when I lived in Syracuse, I will be less jazzed about it. But for the moment, I'm enjoying how pretty it is.


My wife and I used the opportunity to walk over to the Old City and get some pictures of snow in the Old Town. I particularly wanted to get a picture of the Christmas market in the snow, since that ends this weekend.



Of course, all that snow is also kind of cold, so we stopped at a local place known for its hot chocolate. Specifically, its cup of hot chocolate that is basically a melted chocolate bar.


So tell me again why visiting me in the winter is so bad?

So It Wasn't Just Me

You know how I told you that I was having a different experience in Estonia that others said that were having?

How I was not finding it to be true that people all spoke English, or automatically switched to English, or refused to speak Estonia with you once you made a mistake?

I wondered and wondered why I was having a different experience.

Turns out, it isn't just me.

My wife makes a concerted effort to use her Estonian in public. She has only had four months of study, so not even as much as I had by my immersion trip.

And you know what happens?

People speak Estonian to her. And if she stuggles for a word, they give it to her.

In Estonian.

And then they keep talking to her.

In Estonian.

So it isn't just me.

It really is that people appreciate you making an effort. And that they will be nicer to you if you do.

I am still glad I learned the language. I am glad my wife is, that my APAO learned it and that my incoming APAO is learning it. I think it matters. Because we are diplomats. It isn't our job to make people to do things our way by force. Our job is to convince people to work with us, as partners. To explain the American message. To serve the best interests of America.

You can't do that if you come at people from a position of disrespect. Learning their language is a huge step in showing you appreciate and respect them. And it yields fruit, not just now, but in the long run.

Christmas Came! It Came Just the Same!

You remember the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

That was kind of my day today.

Today was the day for our annual holiday party. We've been planning it for a while now. And by we, I mean people other than me. Like my colleague from language class who worked her butt off (AND welcomed people in English, Estonian AND Hebrew...because she rocks like that).

My only roles were to try to get media coverage and then to show up and be jolly.

But dealing with the media in general is my role, and yesterday evening, about 10 minutes after I left work, we had an incident.

A 19-year old Estonian threw a molotov cocktail at the Embassy.

I don't know why he did it, but given that it happened the night before the Holiday Party, it could have spoiled what is a really cherished even both at the embassy and among the community.

But considering, everything went as well as it possibly could have. It was a really minor incident, and I doubt it will even make the U.S. news. No one was injured (thank God), no damage was done to the embassy other than a black smudge on the wall, and the kid has been arrested. In fact, one of our Estonian neighbors grabbed him right after he did it, handed him over to our local guards, who detained him until the police arrived. And they arrived quickly, arrested him, and have him in custody.

And there was no need to cancel the party. It came all the same!

We had clear, crisp weather with no rain (or snow). We had a great turnout. We had cookies and egg nog. We had cute kids singing Christmas and Hanukkah songs. We had decorated trees that lit up on cue when one of the cute kids helped the Ambassador push the button.


It was perfect. Just like these ice ornaments (that in an normal Estonian winter would not have melted until spring!).

I feel a little like the Whos in Whoville.

Oops! It Happened Again.

I went to the Christmas tree lighting in Raekoja Plats on Sunday.

Of course, since I didn't bring an umbrella, it was POURING.

By standing really close to a guy with a really big umbrella (which said something about some socialist website on it...I worried about being under the umbrella of socialism!), I was able to make it through three songs and two speeches.

But by then I was drenched, so I gave up and went home.

I checked on Postimees (the largest local paper), to see if they had pictures or video of the lighting.

Instead, they had pictures and video of the tree falling...AGAIN.

You can check out video of it here, and a story about the incident here.

The rumor mill says the tree was sabotaged by squirrels...the squirrel is the mascot of the ruling Reform Party, and the tree was put up by the Mayor of Tallinn, who is from the opposition Center Party. But if you ask me, I think it was the wind.

And fear not, the tree will be back...but it will be a bit more modest...only 17 meters tall instead of the previous 24 meters. Which is still a pretty frickin' big tree!